REDEMPTION. 83
Portray'd him, poor and old, the virgin spouse
To be, and patriarch of the newer law;
A virgin spouse alone befitting her,
Who, virgin ever, so decreed, should be.
More blessed he, who, pure, his virgin state
Preserved, and held her sacred vow intact;
Who, as unsullied to his care she came,
Unsullied kept, and yielded thus to heav'n.
Renew'd defeat, the Devil's spite anew inflames;
Inflames proportionate to his chagrin.
Aloft, in middle air, enraged he sits,
Outside the colures, where, at fixed point,
Without disturb from gravitating force,
He, ruminant, at length thus vents his spleen:
" Profoundest hell ! hast thou, in all thy depths, Worse punishment than this? I, who have fought With princedoms, thrones, archangels, powers, and ne'er Before created aught did fly, do here Before this fragile thing retreat, abash'd! Hell ! hast thou seen my shame ? and wilt thou own Thy lord, first relegate from heav'n, and now From earth ? For, if I reign not conqu'ror there, Where weakest dwell, who 'rnong superiors Will own my sway, or arm at my command? This then the working is of His grand plan ; This the fulfillment of the promise made; And this the Woman, that shall crush my head. Disrupted from above, and quite cast out, Condemn'd to converse with our pains in hell, Awhile let loose for Heav'n's disport and man's, And now, beneath the foot of woman crush'd ! Oh ! infamous defeat ! ignoble rout !
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